Economic Observer reporter Wang Shuaiguo Entering 2024, various new car manufacturers have successively announced sales data for December 2023 and 2023 for the whole year. Under the "involution", the competitive landscape of new car manufacturers has been reshaped again. Among the 14 companies counted by reporters from the Economic Observer, most had sales growth throughout the year and few had declines. In terms of growth rate, the growth rate of car companies with a higher sales base has slowed down, while those with a lower sales base have experienced rapid growth.
In terms of absolute sales figures, in 2023, the sales volume of new car manufacturers will form a more obvious "three echelons": GAC Aian , Ideal, Weilai , Leap , Xiaopeng These five companies are in the The top five in terms of sales volume all exceeded 140,000 units. The sales volume of Deep Blue , Denza, Nezha , Jikr , aito Wenjie is between 90,000 and 130,000 units. Lantu , Zhiji , Avita , Jihu are within 50,000 units (inclusive). In terms of
growth rate, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers has previously given a forecast that new energy vehicles will achieve a year-on-year growth rate of 36.5% in 2023. If this is used as a standard, 6 of the 14 car companies performed better than the industry average growth rate; 4 car companies performed less than the industry average growth rate; and 4 car companies did not have their full sales year in 2022. Therefore, comparison of data from the same period is missing.
Specifically, car companies with high base numbers in 2022, such as Weilai, Xpeng, and Leapmotor, have maintained a certain growth in 2023, while GAC Aian and Li Auto still achieved rapid growth. Furthermore, Denza Motors, Lantu Motors, and Jikrypton Motors have also achieved high growth rates. New car manufacturers that will perform well in 2023 include Shenlan Automobile and Aito Wenjie. Brands such as Avita, Zhiji, and Jihu, which were previously tepid, experienced a "tail-up" at the end of the year. Among all car companies, Nezha Auto's performance is the most surprising. It once became the sales champion of new car companies in 2022, but in 2023 it became the "only declining" car company.
In addition, among several brands that have not released full-year sales, smart Automobile and Gaohe Automobile have average sales trends in 2023, showing a trend of high sales and low sales; Feifan Automobile , Skyworth Automobile and Heli The sales of car companies such as Chuang Auto have not yet improved and are still in the "marginal zone" of the market.
Aian and Li Auto have high sales and the fastest growth
In 2023, the annual sales of Aian Automobile, a subsidiary of Guangzhou Automobile Group, will exceed 480,000, and the annual sales of Li Auto will reach 376,000, far exceeding other new car brands. In terms of growth rate, the annual sales growth rates of Aion Auto and Li Auto were 77% and 182% respectively, both higher than the industry average. In terms of annual sales target completion rate, although Aian Automobile failed to complete the 500,000-unit target set at the beginning of the year, the 96% completion rate is already at the forefront of the entire industry. Li Auto exceeded its sales target of 300,000 units, with a completion rate of 125.3%.
Among new car brands, Aian Auto has different positioning from Li Auto. In 2023, aions and aiony will still be the two main sales forces of Aion Auto, with good market performance in the new energy sedan market and SUV market of 100,000-200,000 yuan respectively.
Li Auto, with its three SUV models, L7, L8 and L9, has made a strong impact on BBA in the high-end new energy market worth more than 300,000 yuan. For 2024, Li Auto CEO Li Xiang announced that he will challenge the annual sales volume of 800,000 and the monthly sales target of 100,000.
It is worth mentioning that in March 2024, Li Auto’s first pure electric model, the mega, will go on sale. Previously, Li Auto single-handedly made the range extension popular. Whether it can continue its success in the pure electric market has attracted much market attention.
Denza Motors is the car company with the highest sales growth rate among the 14 brands. In 2023, Denza Motors' annual sales will be 127,800 vehicles, with a growth rate of 1,204%. However, it should be noted that Denza Motors' sales base in 2022 will be less than 10,000 units, and the small base is the main reason for its high growth rate.
Denza Motors was established in 2010 as a joint venture of equal equity between Daimler Mercedes-Benz and BYD . According to the agreement between the two parties, the Denza brand will be provided by BYD with three electric technologies, and Daimler will be responsible for the production and manufacturing of the entire vehicle. .From the launch of its first model in 2014 to 2022, Denza Motors has been experiencing sluggish sales and has almost no voice in the market.
At the end of 2021, BYD's shareholding in Denza Motors increased from 50% to 90%, and it began to fully dominate the development of Denza Motors. Denza Motors ushered in a "rebirth". In August 2022, Denza Motors' first product after the equity change, Denza D9, was launched. In just a few months, it quickly became a hot model in the luxury MPV market, making 2023 the year of Denza Motors' breakthrough.
However, the two new models n7 and n8 launched by Denza Motors in 2023 failed to continue the explosive characteristics of Denza d9. Among Denza Motors' annual sales, Denza D9 sales reached 119,200 units, accounting for more than 93%.
Deep Blue and Lantu are making great efforts in aito to ask the industry for a "year-end tailwind"
The Deep Blue brand under Changan Automobile is another "dark horse" in the new energy vehicle market in 2023. In 2023, Deep Blue Automobile's sales will grow rapidly. In the second half of the year, monthly sales will continue to maintain a level of more than 10,000 vehicles, reaching a maximum of 18,000 vehicles, pushing the brand to achieve full-year delivery of 131,600 vehicles in its first full sales year.
In April 2022, Changan Automobile released the Deep Blue brand. Its first model Deep Blue sl03 will be launched in July 2022, and its second model Deep Blue s7 will be launched in June 2023. Compared with Avita Automobile, a high-end smart pure electric brand owned by Changan Automobile, Deep Blue Automobile has a lower positioning. The prices of the two models currently on sale are mainly concentrated in the range of 150,000 to 200,000. In addition, Deepblue sl03 and Deepblue s7 were launched in two power versions: pure electric and extended range. In terms of product pricing and power type, Deep Blue Auto is comparable to Leapmotor.
Lantu Motors, founded by Dongfeng Group, also changed its past mediocre sales situation in the second half of 2023 and entered a new stage of development. Driven by the strategy of "reducing prices and increasing allocations", Lantu Automobile's sales started step by step in August, and by December sales exceeded 10,000, with annual sales reaching 50,600 units, a year-on-year increase of 160%.
It is worth pointing out that Lantu Automobile will change its technical route in 2023. Its new Lantu free and the 2024 Lantu Dreamer have converted their original range-extended power into plug-in hybrids. The Lantu light-chasing also features phev versions.
aito Wenjie series models will have a "dramatic" scene in 2023. Before the launch of the new M7 in September, the sales of the AITO MAX series models continued to be sluggish. The average monthly sales from January to August were around 5,000 units, which was lower than the performance in the same period in 2022. However, with the launch of the Xinwenjie m7, sales rebounded rapidly from October. In December, 24,500 vehicles were delivered in a single month, and a total of 94,400 vehicles were delivered throughout the year, an increase of 26% compared with the cumulative sales from March to December last year. When the
industry discusses why Xinwenjie m7 is so popular, they summarize the reasons into three points: price reduction, stronger high-end intelligent driving capabilities, and just the right time (Huawei launches the mate60 series of mobile phones).
Xpeng, Leapmotor, and NIO are gaining momentum, and Nezha is clearly lagging behind.
"Second-generation" car companies such as Aian Automobile, Deep Blue Automobile, Lantu Automobile, and Jikrypton Automobile have achieved rapid growth in 2023. In 2023, Jikrypton Automobile will deliver 118,700 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 65%. Among them, jikrypton001 became the champion of pure electric models with sales of more than 300,000 from January to November. Jikrypton announced the official launch of Jikrypton 007 on December 27, 2023, and delivery will officially begin on January 1, 2024.
In contrast, NIO, Leap Motors, and Xpeng Motors started earlier and are generally in a period of momentum in 2023. Therefore, their sales growth is not high, but their absolute sales are still at the forefront of the industry. In 2023, NIO, Leapmotor, and Xpeng Motors will deliver 160,000 vehicles, 144,200 vehicles, and 141,600 vehicles respectively, representing year-on-year increases of 31%, 29%, and 17% respectively.
NIO’s main action in 2023 is to promote the intergenerational switch of all series of products. Throughout the year, it has successively delivered new models ec7, new es6, et5t, new es8 and new ec6. In addition, NIO also released its first flagship mobile phone niophone, and reached cooperation with Changan Automobile and Geely Holding in the field of battery replacement.
Leapmotor will enter the extended-range track in 2023, releasing c11 extended-range in March, c11 super extended-range and c01 super extended-range in September.Relying on the advantages of extended range technology such as long battery life and no need for charging, it has successfully upgraded its main sales model from less than 100,000 yuan to the range of 150,000 to 200,000 yuan.
In addition, Leapmotor has acquired shares from Stellantis Group, which has become one of the major events in the domestic automobile industry in 2023. In November 2023, Stellantis Group invested approximately 1.5 billion euros to acquire approximately 20% of the equity of Leapmotor and obtained two board seats of the latter. At the same time, Stellantis Group and Leapmotor will establish Leapmotor International in a 51:49 ratio, with the exclusive right to export and sell Leapmotor to all other markets around the world, as well as the exclusive right to manufacture Leapmotor products locally.
Xpeng Motors' sales performance in 2023 is quite similar to that of the aito Wenjie series models. Due to reasons such as the pricing strategy error of the Xpeng g9 model in the second half of 2022, the development of Xpeng Motors will be unfavorable in the first half of 2023. By the end of June, the launch of the Xpeng g6 gradually broke the situation and promoted the sales of Xpeng Motors. From October to December, Xpeng Motors delivered more than 20,000 vehicles for three consecutive months, thus achieving annual sales growth.
Volkswagen Group invested in Xpeng in July 2023, which also endorsed the development of Xpeng Motors to a certain extent. The cooperation between the two parties includes: Volkswagen Group will invest approximately US$700 million in Xpeng Motors to acquire approximately 4.99% of the equity of Xpeng Motors; the two parties plan to jointly develop two Volkswagen brand electric models for China's mid-size car market, and plan to It will be launched on the market in 2026.
Among the 14 car companies, Nezha Automobile became the "worst" company. In 2023, Nezha Automobile delivered 127,500 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 16%. As the "sales champion" in 2022, Nezha Motor's cumulative delivery volume of new cars in 2023 not only lags behind established competitors such as "Weixiaoli" and Leapmotor, but is also surpassed by Deep Blue Motors and Denza Motors.
Recently, Zhang Yong, co-founder and CEO of Nezha Auto, publicly reviewed on social platforms and proposed several major reasons for Nezha Auto’s poor sales in 2023: there was no good connection between new and old products, and the rhythm was chaotic; the launch of new products The pricing is too high. Although adjustments were made in the second half of last year, the opportunity has been lost; the production of loss-making product lines has been significantly reduced; the communication method is old; the marketing headquarters is centralized and management is weak.
For the year 2024, which has already arrived, the general consensus in the industry is that "involution" will be more intense. New car manufacturers that are re-adjusting their layout in 2023 will face challenges and variables again in the new year.
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